Iraq firefight shows difficulty of fighting enemy while protecting the innocent

European Stars and Stripes ^ | June 27, 2004 | Charlie Coon

[Cannoneer No. 4]

A platoon of Marines from Company D, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, head out on Friday to patrol the main highway along the eastern edge of Fallujah, Iraq. Each of the Light Armored Vehicles, called LAV-25s for their 25 mm Bushmaster chain gun, carries seven Marines.

Marines from Company D, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, on Friday head out to patrol the main highway along the eastern edge of Fallujah, Iraq.

[johnfrink]

Lance Cpl. Brad Swenson of Northfield, Minn.

Yeah, Northfield, MN shoutout! (I went to college there.)

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[Dog]

Interesting they are trying to draw the Marines into Fallujah..

[hattend]

“They looked like regular Iraqi citizens,” said Lance Cpl. Brad Swenson of Northfield, Minn. “It was hard to distinguish where the enemy personnel were. They’re really good at hiding themselves.”

When the shooting starts, if they aren't on their bellies or have their hands in the air, they're targets.

[Darksheare]

"Some of the bad guys who ran away ditched their weapons and reappeared as innocents."

That's one way to really tick me off.

[Jagdgewehr]

Yet the enemy fighters kept showing themselves, only to be killed.

Well...despite the cowardly tactics used by the terrorists, at least there are some getting what they deserve.

[ExSoldier]

"“I was afraid we were going to get down to the nitty-gritty and I was going to freeze up,” he said."

Wasn't there a line in the famous speech to the troops that was made by Patton that addressed this? It was in the movie and spoken by George C. Scott, for sure.

[Frohickey]

Can't we just nuke Fallujah from orbit? Its the only way to be sure.

[Cap Huff]

This article also is a great example of why the laws of armed conflict make such a necessary distinction between legal and illegal combatants. NOT treating illegal combatants much harsher than lawful combatants endangers non-combatants. Applying the Geneva Convention to this scum ultimately hurts those presumed to be innocent, i.e. civilians.

[Little Ray]

"...You kind of have to pick and choose who’s bad and who’s good.”

IMHO, NONE of them are good, esp. if you are takeing fire. They get one chance to prove otherwise: Yell "Down!" (learn it in Arabic), then kill everybody still standing or moving.

This "politically correct" warfare is costing us too many troops.

[R. Scott]

A heck of a lot of restraint.

[HiJinx]

A heck of a lot of restraint.

That appears to be the common thread in almost every single report we read of action in Iraq.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Plenty of Chechens in Fallujah who want to draw us into another Grozny massacre. The Marines don't allow themselves to be sucked in, and that is seen as weakness by far too many Freepers.

[HiJinx]

Plenty of Chechens in Fallujah

No surprise there...wonder how the new Iraqi security apparatus is going to deal with that reality?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

"When you stick your hand into a bunch of goo that a minute before was your best friend's face, you'll know what to do."

[ExSoldier]

LOL! That's it!!

[IDontLikeToPayTaxes]

"Some of you, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it.

When you put your hand into a bunch of GOO that a moment before was your best friend's face........

You'll know what to do."

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Can't we just nuke Fallujah from orbit?

So far as I know we can't nuke Fallujah or anywhere else from orbit.

Nuking Fallujah pretty much wrecks any chance of a free and prosperous pro-American Iraq.

I have friends near Fallujah, and downwind of Fallujah. Would you irradiate Coalition personnel to fry the Jihadis?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

If we ever get some high-speed, low-drag, trained Iraqi operators on our side they'll spot a Chechen just by eyeballing him and a non-indigenous Hadji as soon as he opens his mouth.

After that, two 5.56mm copper and lead pills administered subcutaneously just above the bridge of the nose solves most problems.